SC Lists Zee News Anchor Rohit Ranjan's Plea on 7 July Without Petition

Ranjan had been arrested on Tuesday by Noida Police and later released on bail.

Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan was arrested by Noida Police in Ghaziabad.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Rohit Ranjan)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 6 July, agreed to hear Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan's plea seeking urgent hearing. The case has been listed for hearing on Thursday, 7 July.

“Now Chhattisgarh police want to arrest him. Please list this urgently since otherwise he will be in repeated custody,” his lawyer Siddharth Luthra said.

Ranjan was arrested by Noida Police in connection with airing misleading clips about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and was released on bail on Tuesday, 5 July, as the sections against him were bailable offences.

Cases against him were filed in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

However, while the court listed the matter for hearing on Thursday, Rajan's lawyer said that the petition had not yet been filed, according to LiveLaw.

“We should have been told that the matter has not been filed,” the court said.

“This is no ground. This court is going to take a very strong view. As AOR [advocate on record] you should have instructed your counsel.”

Earlier on Tuesday, a team from Chhattisgarh Police had arrived at Ranjan's residence in ​​Ghaziabad's Indirapuram area to arrest him.

Following this, chaos unfolded outside his home while police personnel from the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh and Congress-led Chhattisgarh jostled to take his custody, social media videos revealed.

Ranjan has been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 153-A (Promoting Enmity on Grounds of Religion or Race), Section 295-A (Malicious Acts Intending to Hurt Religious Beliefs), Section 504 (Intentional Insult), and Section 505 (1)(b) (Intent to Cause Fear or Alarm to Public).

Rahul Gandhi's 'Distorted' Statement

Congress alleged that Ranjan had distorted the statement of party leader Rahul Gandhi in his special TV news segment, which they said tarnished Gandhi's image.

About 19 Congress workers were also arrested in Noida for protesting outside the TV channel and burning effigies on Sunday.

On 2 June, Ranjan allegedly misquoted Gandhi’s video statement on the Udaipur incident and had subsequently corrected himself and apologised on television.

He tweeted, "Yesterday, in our show DNA, Rahul Gandhi's statement was taken in the wrong context by linking it to the Udaipur incident, it was a human error for which our team is apologetic and we apologise for it."

(With inputs from PTI and LiveLaw)